The 25th edition of WWE Royal Rumble is just hours away from emanating live from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. And thus, as has become customary when it comes looking at WWE’s “big four” (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series) here is a preview of tonight’s show.
WWE Championship – Special Guest Referee John Laurinaitis
CM Punk (c) v. Dolph Ziggler
This match could easily steal the show tonight. Ziggler has grown so much as an entertainer and a performer over this past year it is scary. And Punk has seemingly finally gotten the management’s stamp of approval as a tippy-top guy. They had an amazing match on Monday Night RAW back on November 21 that was an easy contender for free TV match of the year. Both men walk into this bout with something to prove. For Punk it’s a chance to prove he can carry the ball as the company’s top dog. For Ziggler it is another chance to prove that he can be one of the company’s “go to guys” and prove his spot as a main event level talent.
Ziggler earned the bout by beating Punk in a gauntlet match back on the December 26 RAW. He then defeated Punk via count out the next week in a WWE Championship bout. That count out victory now earned him this bout on a grand stage. Interim RAW General Manager and Executive VP, Talent Relations John Laurainitis has been a thorn in Punk’s side for months now and inserted himself into the situation as the special guest referee, and has publicly admitted that he has planned on costing Punk the Championship.
This seems like a logical victory for Punk, as Ziggler has to be proven as someone who can carry a show. But the Rumble is notorious for having “less credible” challengers in World Title bouts at the Royal Rumble as the Rumble match itself carries the show’s buyrate. It happened in 1993 with Razor Ramon, 2004 with Bob Holly, 2006 with Mark Henry, 2007 with Ken Kennedy and again last year with Dolph Ziggler against Edge. While Ziggler certainly had no chance last year, “The Show Off” and “#HEEL” has gained immense credibility and has certainly instilled doubts in many Punk supporters that he could conceivably walk out as Champion and not be completely out of place.
Triple Threat Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan (c) v. The Big Show v. Mark Henry
Another improbable story saw the perpetual underdog Daniel Bryan win the World Heavyweight Championship and then become mired in the perpetual monster battle between the gargantuan Big Show and Mark Henry. Even in subsequent one-on-one rematches Bryan has survived unscathed and with the Championship.
But since his victory, Bryan’s happy-go-lucky attitude has slowly and subtlety shifted into a conniving obnoxious villain. He over-celebrates after victories and has pitted Henry and Show against each other in hopes the monsters would eliminate each other. Plus he put his girlfriend AJ Lee in the way and got her injured by a stampeding Big Show.
Bryan’s subtle heel turn has been a thing of beauty, as every week he becomes a little more sinister and a little cockier. He has verbally berated his “friend” Big Show numerous times over accidentally injuring AJ, and used both AJ and her BFF Kaitlyn to do his bidding.
Now Bryan is stuck with two angry men, both over twice his size, inside a steel cage. Henry is legit injured and shouldn’t walk out as Champion. Tonight should be the night where “The American Dragon” makes the full turn to the dark side, escape the cage and retain his Championship via some sort of nefarious means.
John Cena v. Kane
Kane returned on the December 19 episode of Monday Night RAW after five months off. He had suffered an injury back in July at the hands of Mark Henry and joined “The Hall of Pain.” For weeks before his return promos aired hyping him and hinted at the return of Kane’s mask.
Sure enough when Kane returned that night he was back in full mask and hair set-up and interrupted a bout between John Cena and Mark Henry. Rather than attacking Henry, the man who injured him, he went after Cena. A week later Kane explained himself and claimed he wanted Cena to “embrace the hate” and essentially join the dark side, like something right out of Star Wars.
Since then Kane set his sights on Zack Ryder, Cena’s little buddy. He attacked Ryder two weeks in a row, including pulling him under a literal ring of fire. This caused Ryder to lose his United States Championship to Jack Swagger. Then last week on RAW Kane destroyed Ryder in a Falls Count Anywhere bout, taking him out of action effectively. All the while Cena, the Batman to Ryder’s Robin, has been trying to stop Kane and save Ryder. Kane has constantly been spreading his message of Cena embracing the hate.
Now both men will meet one-on-one at the Rumble, which should surely give indication of Cena’s mindset will be going into his bout with The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII. Both men are more than likely to be included into the Royal Rumble match itself, and their issue could continue or resolve there. It will mark Kane’s 14th consecutive appearance in the Rumble match.
Royal Rumble match
This is the first year in history where there has been no official list of Royal Rumble participants has been released via WWE television segments or online. The announcers have certainly confirmed some participants but nothing has been set in stone. Also, this year’s Royal Rumble “By the Numbers” video package has also included the peculiar line that “for the first time ever, every WWE superstar is eligible,” which surely means there will be plenty of surprises.
expected participants:
Wade Barrett, Sheamus, Jinder Mahal, Santino Marella, Chris Jericho, The Miz, R-Truth, Kane, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Mick Foley, Brodus Clay, Hornswoggle, Randy Orton, David Otunga, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Justin Gabriel, Hunico and Drew McIntyre.
In another peculiar move, only three undercard matches have been announced for the show when traditionally four or five bouts are included in the lead-up to the Rumble match. Therefore expect at least one more undercard match to be included. It will more than likely be a Divas Championship bout with Beth Phoenix defending against Alicia Fox or perhaps a WWE Tag Title match with Primo & Epico defending against Jimmy & Jey Uso.
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